For more than 100 years, Colonial Funeral Home has been located at 323 Second St. in Columbia and has honored deep-rooted family values with care and support.
Colonial offers traditional services, funeral services with burial, cremation and grief counseling with certified counselors in its service to families in their darkest hours.
Colonial Funeral Director and Embalmer Danny Jackson said he entered the field by chance, but it was one of the best decisions of his life to start working at a funeral home.
“I got into this business primarily by accident. This is a second career for me. I found myself needing employment, and I knew someone who worked for a funeral home. I started working part time and absolutely fell in love with the career path,” he said. “I decided to go to mortuary school and become a certified funeral director and embalmer. I fell in love with all aspects of the business as far as the conduction of services, needing people and actually serving people.”
Owned by Service Corporation International, Colonial is a full-service funeral home that helps families every step of the way.
“We help with arranging funeral services and memorials and assist with the filing of paperwork for final expenses, insurance and veteran benefits. We’re compassionate, local and take care of anything and everything that deals with services for your loved ones,” Jackson said.
Although families enter Colonial during dark times, Jackson said the staff does everything it can to allow families to honor their loved ones.
“There are times when a loss occurs that’s tragic and sometimes it’s expected. My objective here is to make it is as easy as it can be so family members can remember their loved ones in the best possible way,” Jackson said.
With a nine-employee staff, Jackson said there are a few characteristics that set Colonial apart from other funeral homes.
“First would be longevity. We’ve been around for over 100 years, which would set us apart from other funeral homes in the immediate area. Secondly, I would say our passionate staff separates us from others, along with the knowledge of what we do,” he said.
The knowledge accumulated over the years has made Colonial employees understand there are different ways to assists grieving families.
“We aim to exceed expectations, and we do. We get many phone calls and comments on how we do exceed expectations. We actually do our utmost best to go above and beyond than what is typically expected of a funeral (home),” Jackson said. “Even if it means going out to the family home to make arrangements, we’ve done that many times. We will offer a strong support system if someone comes in here that is very grief stricken and allow them to take the time to grieve in their own way.”
The Second Street location is nearing a full-scale facelift, according to Jackson.
“We’re in the process of planning renovations and facility improvements. We want to do full renovations of the interior with the flooring, furniture, lighting and a few other technological amenities,” he said.
It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, weekday or weekend, Jackson said a Colonial employee can be reached 24/7.
“Families can contact us during the normal working hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by telephone. They can contact us via our website, www.colonialfuneralhomes-ms.com, any other time, and we are always on top of answering any and all requests.”
Colonial Funeral Home can be reached at (601) 736-5361 and plans to maintain the high criteria Marion County has become accustomed to.
“We will continue to serve our area as Colonial has always with the highest standard of funeral service,” Jackson said.
Pictured Above: Colonial Funeral Home employees include, front row, from left, Theresa McKenzie and Frances Bennett; back row, Brandon Turnage, Jimmy Turnage, Danny Jackson, Hope Turnage, Johnathan McLemore, Wesley Hoffman and Bill Metcalf. | Photo by Mark Rogers
